From cleaner to horticulturist

Fifteen years ago, Maria van der Westhuizen began working at the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden as a cleaner. Today, she is head horticulturist at this garden’s nursery.

“I had no interest in plants when I started working here,” Maria says. “To tell you the truth, I thought the drab succulents were actually quite boring.”

But people who came to buy plants would occasionally ask Maria questions and she grew tired of not having the answers. “I eventually started hiding away when I noticed people who might want to ask something about the plants. Until, one day, I decided to find the answers in library books.”

Maria asked the curator at the time

– Werner Voigt, currently the curator at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden – whether she could spend time in the greenhouse between her cleaning duties. In January 2014, she began her horticulture studies at Unisa, with the help of a SANBI bursary.

“I studied during my tea breaks and lunches, and up to 1 o’clock in the morning after I’d taken care of my husband and children. It became difficult, but I just knew I had to show my children that it is possible to make a new life for yourself.”

Maria finished her studies in October 2020 and achieved distinctions in 26 of the 30 modules.

She says the best part of her job is bringing sick plants, aloes in particular, back to health. “I talk to them as if they were my children, because that’s how

I feel about them.” And germinating seeds will always be her first love. “I can’t describe that sense of anticipation.”